Grain-huller.



B. C. BUFFUM.

GRAIN HULLER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY3, l91 7.

1,242,136.. Patented 0m, 1911.

UNIED earns PATENT oration. 1

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To all whom it may concern: a

- Be it known that I, BURT C. BUFFUM, a

I citizen of the United States, residing at the city and county of Denverand State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inGrain-Hullers; and

' I do declare the following to be a full, clear,

and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification. i

My invention relates to improvementsin grain hullers, but is more especially adapt ed for use in removing the hull of-the grain known as emmer. The ordinary rice hullerwhen used for removing the hull of emmer will not do the work effectually, because the emmer grain is covered with several glumes or coats of chaff which make the hull so bulky that the revolving cylinder which carries the grain against the blade to remove the hull of rice, becomes clogged and the grain becomes, surrounded with surplus hull, so that the rubbing action is not positive enough to remove all of it from all of kernels. This is true even where the spout allowing the grain to escape fromthe huller isso nearly closed that it retains the grain under pressure, asthe particles of hull removed will. not be forced through the screen of the huller, but are retained within the attritioncylinder. p

Byapplying a suction of air regulated by a valve or. other means whereby a partial vacuum is produced below the huller cylinder, 1 causetheair within the said cylinder to be drawn through the meshes of the screen and. in this way-obviate the congestion of hulls within the cylinder, so that all of the grain can be subjectedj to a proper attrition to effectually remove the hull. Furthermore, this process enables me to'greatly increase the capacityof the machine. I

I apply my improvement to a ricehuller of the ordinary construction, the improvement consisting of a box or funnel composed of; any suitable materialas tin, iron or wood, to which is attached a pipe leading to an 3 Specification of Letters Patent. I

p v raaatea ca. 9, 1917. Application filed May-3, 1917. Serial No. 166,161. f

ordinary fan which creates the necessary suction. I make provision for allowing. a limited quantity ofair to enter the cylinder oucylindrical casing of the huller. This may be done by the employment ofawedges placed between the two hinged members of l the cylindrical casing before these members are :clamped together.' By the. adjustment of Qthese, wedges, the 1. quantity of air admitted may. be. easily regulated. Further-e more, on one or more sides offlthe'boX or funnel which is arranged below" the discharge opening fOr the hulls,-I- provide openingswhich may be regulated by means of valves or cut olf devices ofanysuitable character whereby. the entrance. ofairis 0011-. trolled and the-suction regulated- .This same construction may. beTused in connection with a battery of hullers consisting of two or more, each of thehullers beingconnected directlywiththe partial vacuumpromy improvement, 1' W111 proceed to describe the same in de- Figure 1 isa perspective view of a huller equipped with my improvement. H

' Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section taken through the construction shown in Fig. 1. This section is taken on the line Fig. 3' is a cross section of the machine taken on the line 3.-3 Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is-a fragmentary vlew of the ma chine illustrating the wedges inserted between. the two parts of: the-cylindrical casing for supplyingair ther'eto, theparts'being shown on a larger scale than in the other views. This view is obtained bylookingin the directionof arrow 4 Fig. 3.

Fig.'5 is a fragmentary detail view of the same structurefiwhich is the same as the lef-than-d side of Fig. 3, but shown on a larger scale. f The same reference character'sindicate the same parts in all the views.

Let the numeral 5 designate the cylindrical casing of an ordinary rice huller, the same having an opening 6 at the top of one extremity through which the material to be treated is fed through the medium of a suitable hopper 7. Within this casing is mounted a rotary member 8 which is fluted or grooved as shown at 9 and through the medium of which the grain fed into the casing is brought into contact with a blade 10 for hull-removing purposes. The grooved or fluted portion of the rotary member! which is toward the receiving end of the casing has theribs andgrooves diagonally arranged or inclined whereby the grain as the hull is removed is carried toward'the opposite end of the casing which is provided with an opening l2from which leads a spout 13 through which the hulled grain passes from the machine. The casing 5 is composed of two members 14 and 15 which are hinged at 16. These members are provided opposite the hinge with opposing flanges l7 and 18 which are engaged by U-shaped clamps 19, the said clamps being hinged at their lower extremitiesas shown at 20, their upper extremities being perforated to receive set bolts or screws 21 which are threaded in the upper extremities of the clamps, their lower ends engaging the upper flange 17 One of my improvements consists in spacing these flanges before-the clamping screws 21 are tightened. This spacing may be done in any suitable manner. As shown in the drawing, I have illustrated wedges 22 which are placed between the two flanges and adjusted to give the desired space or opening 23 between the flanges in order to permit the proper quantity of air, to enter the casing during the huller operation, to facilitate to the maximum degree the removal of the hulls through a bottom screen 24: which is applied to the lower part of the casing and extends across a bottom opening 25. I have found that by introducing air through the instrumentality of the construction just described, the removal of the hulls through the screen 24 may be greatly facilitated.

The lower part of the cylindrical casing is provided with supports 26 which are made fast to a suitable base 27 which forms the top of a suction box 28 having inclined sides 29 tapering to a relatively small opening 30 which communicates with a pipe 31 leading to a suction producing device as a centrifugal fan 32. I

The top of the box as illustrated in the drawing is provided with two openings 33 adjacent which covers 34 are pivotally connected with the top of the box for controlling these openings. By virtue of this construction, provision is made for admitting additional air directly to the suction box during the hulling operation. Furthermore, the extremity of the suction pipe 31 just in the rear of the hull outlet 30, has an opening which is controlled by a pivoted cover 35 which may be, adjusted to permit the desired entrance of air to the suction pipe, in order to furtherfacilitate the removal of the hulls through said pipe and to prevent the possible clogging of the latter during the hulling operation.

When the machine is in use, the emmer or other grain as heretofore indicated, is introduced into the hopper 7, the rotary member 9 being actuatedl through the medium of suitable power which may be connected with-a pulley 36 which as illustrated in the drawing is made fast to an extension of one of the journals of the rotary member, the opposite journal being also extended and equipped with a fly-wheel 37. During the rotary movement of the member 9, the emmer or other grain under treatment is brought into engagement with the blade 10 which protrudes into'the cylindrical casing and is properly adjusted to cooperate with the rotary member in loosening and removing the hulls from the grain. As these hulls are removed, they are carried down:

wardly through the screen 24, through the medium of the suction produced by the suc tion member 32, the work being greatly facilitated by the introduction of air through the opening 23 between the casing members, supplemented by additional air introduced by way of the openings 33 in thetop'of the suction box as well as by opening the pivoted cover 35 at the rear end of the suction, pipe 31. During the operation, the grain from which the hulls have been removed, is caring of the huller for introducing air into the casing above the screen, and suction& producing means in communication with the discharge opening for the hulls. I v 2. A grain huller including a casing having a hinged member, means for preventing the complete closure of said member where by a limited quantity of air is admitted to the chamber of the casing, means within the casing for removing the hulls from the gram, a screen-covered opening for the discharge of the hulls from the casing, and suction-producing means in communication With said last named opening.

3. A huller including a casing, means Within the casing for removing the bulls from the material under treatment, the casing having a hull-discharge opening at its bottom, a suction box connected with said opening, suction-producing means, a

conduit connecting said box with said last 10 BURT c. BUFFUM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

